We left New York a year ago, excited but also nervous about the adventure we were undertaking.  We arrived in Ohio with no jobs and our nearest friends and family over 700 miles away. Nevertheless, we were determined to survive and embrace our new lives as Ohioans.  Fast forward a year later and things could not be better. 

The kids adjusted without a hitch, made nice friends, are involved on sports teams and doing great in school.  Peter got an awesome promotion after being at his job less than 6 months, and he absolutely loves his sweet 15 minute commute.  I am enjoying life as a soccer mom / PTA board member / princess.

Vowing to be more social, Peter and I were able to squelch our "loner" tendencies, and befriended some awesome couples / families that we get along with so well. 

I’m happy to say things have turned out better than we could have hoped!

As you can imagine, a lot has happened since my last newsletter but in general we have settled down into a nice groove here.  Our perspective on all things Ohioan has changed from everything seeming strange and different to most things seeming just “normal.”  While that is great, it definitely makes for fewer unique experiences to write about.  I hope the information contained herein does not disappoint!

SCHOOL & FRIENDS
Zachary is amazing - we are so proud of him.  We made this whole big move and he has taken everything in stride.  He just goes with the flow, never complains, and faces every new situation with such strength.  He’s dealt with a huge move, new schools, new friends, and new activities and has adapted with ease.  He’s so strong, I really admire him. 

This year Zack is at a new school.  For those of you keeping track, that is 3 different schools in 3 years.  School has been in session for one week and he’s already made friends with a couple of boys in his class.  The doorbell rang yesterday and there was a pack of five kids at the door wanting him to play. He took off with them on his bike and had a great time. Pictured on the right with Zack is his friend Justin, also a transplant to this area.

VIDEO GAMES & COMPUTERS
Zack still loves video games, and can usually maintain a good balance between games, school work, friends, soccer, etc.  Zack got a Wii for his birthday, which he loves.  If you haven’t played one, find someone who has one you can try because adults and children alike love that game system.  Occasionally Zack would come home from school and say “MOM!  Have you been playing my Wii while I was at school again???”  (guilty as charged – I was hooked on Wii bowling and baseball for a while). 

Zack still enjoys everything Pokemon - so much so that we surprised him by getting “POKEMON” as our tags (AKA license plates).  He loves it and we get all sorts of crazy reactions to it.  Kids absolutely freak out and usually drag their parents back through the parking lot to see it.  Of course most parents think we are nuts. It's actually more functional than anything - do you know how hard it is to find your mini-van in the sea of mini-vans at the soccer field?

SCHOOL
Never has there been a child more excited to go to school than Jackie.  She is 4 and started pre-school this week. So far she really seems to be enjoying it, as she had anticipated she would.  We spent the summer looking at many different preschools, in many different settings, but ended up choosing the preschool run through our school district. I would have liked for her to help make the final choice, but her opinion was unfairly influenced by a preschool that gave her a balloon and a pink pencil. 

We visited Jackie's new classroom and her teacher also came for a home visit which was pretty cool.  She picked out a Dora backpack and a pretty purple dress to wear on her first day.  Being the independent kid she is, I dropped her off and she headed off into the school barely saying goodbye and never looking back.

DANCE
Jackie took dance lessons last year and loved it.  She enjoyed going to class every week, and did a great job at the end of the year recital.  Each girl received a trophy, which Jackie was completely thrilled about, and has hers proudly displayed in her room.  We met some very nice girls there and they are all just so cute in their dance costumes.  She’s signed up again this year and started last week. She's thrilled to now be in the "big girl" class since she has a whole year of experience.

SOCCER
Jackie has been waiting patiently and is finally old enough to play in the local soccer league. She is too cute.  When we went to get her soccer gear she picked out pink cleats, pink shin guards and a pink ball which she guards during practice to make sure no one else takes it. She loves the fact that she has a team shirt with her name on the back.  Jackie hasn’t yet grasped the concept of taking the ball away from the other team, but if it comes near her she will kick it. When it comes to chasing the ball she is always about a step or two behind the pack of kids, usually skipping along, but not too bad for our little hypotonic kid.

AROUND THE HOUSE
Peter was always making improvements to our NY house and is doing the same thing here, of course.  The house is not old enough to be in need of any major renovation but he’s been able to satisfy his desire to constantly improve the house by painting everything, adding new lighting, changing existing lighting, etc. (pictures below in "House Updates.")

The future projects he is contemplating include finishing the basement, doing a small remodel to the half bathroom, and building a bigger deck.  In the meantime there are several more rooms to paint so that should hold him off from those big projects for at least a little while longer. 

PETER'S BIG RED TOY
Peter had his heart set on a shiny red lawn tractor since the day we moved here.  After countless hours of shopping and researching, he finally got one.  He managed to narrowly escape death on his first go at the yard when he nearly flipped the tractor on an embankment and was rescued by our 70+ year old neighbor whose comment was “first time on a tractor, huh?”  Peter then knocked out the fireman’s pole on the swing set but was quite distressed over the scrape it made on the front of the tractor more than anything else. 

Peter learned quickly and now mows like a pro.  A few trees needed to be sacrificed because their placement made mowing difficult, but the others just got trimmed so he could get around them better.  Zack and I are very happy because Peter got a giant leaf bagger attachment for the tractor so we are keeping our fingers crossed that we won’t have nearly as much leaf cleanup to do by hand this Fall.

WORK
Despite my self-proclaimed status as a Princess, I did take an easy part-time job in order to help cushion things while Peter built up his freelance work when we first moved here. Of course that was back before the health insurance company put the kibosh on our plans. The job was working as an office manager at a remodeling company (for those of you with kids, think "Wendy from Bob the Builder.") I worked in the mornings and Jackie stayed with Daddy. 

Once we determined Peter needed to get a full-time job (you didn’t see me volunteering to do so, that’s for sure), I went in to quit since I needed to be with Jackie.  My boss suggested I bring her with me to work so I did that for a while.  Once summer approached I cut back my hours so I could enjoy being with the kids.  I now work Tuesday and Friday morning and my hours are completely flexible so I can switch and go in on another day if someone is sick or if I have a conflict with a school event, etc.. 

Peter claims it is not humanly possible to work as little as I do and still be employed, but I'm doing it!

They set off fireworks every night at the park which is pretty neat, but I figure the people who live close to it must get tired of them after a while. We can't take credit for this photo, but this is really what it looks like - it's so cool! And yes, that is a real 1/3rd scale replica of the Eiffel Tower there.

Here are the problems as I see them:

1. They don’t know how to deal with snow-covered roads here.  We are used to New York, which has its snow removal plans pretty nicely orchestrated. Not the case here in Ohio. Despite the fact that snow had been falling for over an hour, the main interstate had not been plowed at all…  not once!   I understand it takes some time to get to the side roads, but we’re talking about the main LIE-type road.  We were on our way back from the airport but eventually decided to stop and have breakfast in hopes that a plow would come through in the meantime.
2. Because the roads are treacherous, everyone panics. They drive WAY too slowly and clearly don’t know how to brake properly, deal with a skid, etc. when snow is involved.
3. I truly feel that since Ohio doesn’t require any vehicle inspections that some vehicles probably have tires that are in very sorry shape.  And everyone knows that good tires are essential to driving in the snow!

As you can imagine, school is affected by this phenomenon.  Picture this: You are sitting watching TV around 8:00pm and school closings start scrolling across the bottom of the screen.  You then look out the window, perplexed since not one flake has fallen.  I don’t see why school closing alerts cannot wait until the morning to see if the snow actual pans out, but whatever!  They also closed school one day because of “cold weather.”

So my final analysis of The White Death is that they are right!  Snow is to be feared and avoided at all costs.  At the first prediction of snow you must run to buy milk and bread and then proceed to hide in your house until it clears. There were definitely days I chose to stay home, not because I didn’t think I could manage the snow, but because I was terrified of the stress of trying to not become a victim of the other drivers out there.

That being said, they can’t even drive in the rain around here.  I’m trying to coin the phrase “The Wet Death” since it’s more creative than “rain.”

I am now officially a soccer mom – I have all the prerequisites – 2 kids in soccer and a mini-van.  I’m shopping for one of those decals that looks like a soccer ball broke the window, but haven’t found one yet. 

Since we already had an 8 passenger SUV, Peter had decided on a nice BMW for his next car, and had even picked it out. At the last minute I threw a wrench into that plan when I told him I needed a mini-van because I thought we were ready for kid #3.  So we got the mini-van.  Shortly after that I changed my mind (LOL) so now he has no 3rd kid and no BMW.  Accordingly he refuses to drive the mini-van except when absolutely necessary and even then it’s under protest.  He did have to take it to work one day and his co-workers mocked him.  I love the mini-van so I am happy to drive it!  Who knows, maybe I’ll change my mind about #3 one day.

Interestingly enough, we showed up to the car dealer late on a Sunday afternoon and left with the car that night.  They don’t require any insurance binders to prove you have current coverage.  Actually the dealer said “be sure to tell your insurance company that you got a new car within the next 30 days.”  They slapped a piece of paper on the back of the car where a real license plate should be and off we went.  They also said that if something fell through with the lease agreement that they’d contact us if we needed to bring the car back!  It was quite an experience.

My favorite mini-van accessory, by far, is the little white family stickers on the back. I love them! I almost peeled off the second cat sticker when Toonces kept peeing in the dining room, but after 6 weeks of anti-biotics she is now better, no longer peeing in places she shouldn't, and her sticker on the back of the mini-van is no longer in jeopardy.

Yes, it's true, we are assimilating into the Ohioan culture, and there's no turning back!. I have become a much calmer driver - I no longer honk - EVER! I graciously let people in instead of accelerating to block their way. Don't get me wrong, I am still known to fume occasionally behind a slow driver, but I'm even getting better with that.

Peter called me the other day and mentioned he was going "gun shopping" with a hunter friend at lunch. Their plan is to go hunting on the friend's 20 acre land in Kentucky although they haven't done it yet.

I must admit that I was shocked the first time Jackie asked "Can I have a sucker?" She still uses the word lollipop with us but somehow understands she should use sucker with everyone else here. It's kind of like she speaks two languages. While I doubt we will ever start referring to soda as "pop", we have had to change how we say certain things since no one here knows what a hero is, and ordering a "plain pie" at the pizza place stumps them every time.

LANGUAGE
I have pretty much exhausted most of the language differences between New York and Ohio. The are only two new additions: kids around here say "dang it" which I've never heard in New York, and they also say "cuss" instead of "curse."

LATE SUNSETS
We have finally gotten used to the late sunset here. At the height of the summer it was still light outside at 10 P.M. which is pretty wild.

ORANGE LICENSE PLATES
Occasionally we'd see a car that had bright orange/yellow plates and we could never figure out why. Well, apparently Ohio hands out these plates to DUI/DWI offenders so that you can watch out for them and I suppose so that police officers will keep an even closer eye on those individuals.

SAUERKRAUT FESTIVAL
Yes, you read that correctly - a Sauerkraut Festival. I'm not kidding. Sure, Greenlawn had a Pickle Festival, but that was just various kinds of pickles. The Sauerkraut Festival has been held since 1970 and now attracts over 250,000 visitors. Could they all be insane or is it actually cool?

This Sauerkraut festival has a whole bunch of food made with Sauerkraut, including: